Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder wants to leave the supervisory board of the Russian oil company Rosneft. The German businessman Matthias Warnig is also not extending his mandate. Regardless of this, the SPD wants to negotiate Schröder’s party expulsion in June.
Former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder wants to leave the board of directors of the Russian oil company Rosneft. Schröder, who is the head of the Rosneft supervisory board, said it was impossible for him to extend his mandate on the board, the group said on Friday. No details or reasons were given. The German businessman Matthias Warnig is leaving the supervisory board with Schröder.
The 78-year-old Schröder, a longtime friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has recently been under massive pressure in the face of demands in Germany that he no longer works as an oil and gas lobbyist for Russia because of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. The SPD politician also holds management positions in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline projects – both natural gas pipelines through the Baltic Sea connecting Russia and Germany.
Independently of this, the SPD district of Hanover wants to negotiate on June 15 about the motions to expel former chancellor Gerhard Schröder from the party. The managing director of the party district, Christoph Matterne, announced on Friday. If no agreement can be reached on the date, they want to meet again a week later.
Among other things, Schröder caused a stir when, in the middle of the escalation before the Russian attack on the neighboring country, he criticized Ukraine’s demands for arms deliveries as “saber rattling”. Schröder is having the abolition of his former chancellor privileges decided on Thursday by the budget committee of the Bundestag legally reviewed.
Last year, more than 400,000 euros flowed from the state coffers for personnel expenses in Schröder’s office. According to the decision, the former chancellor is still entitled to a pension and personal protection. Schröder himself initially did not comment on the matter.
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